ok.... not really a bike expert..... ( nothing at all wrong with that !!!) and modding a Jiffo ?
Thats probably the hardest Dahon to start futzing around with ....

Tell us why you want to change ? Color only ?
Thor

prompt

02-07-14 11:37 AM

Yes, I've read that it's one of the least mod-friendly bike :D

Yes basically just want to change the color. Also want to know if there are parts that I can still change that can make the whole thing shed a few grams.. :D

Thanks!

bhkyte

02-09-14 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prompt
(Post 16475901)

Yes, I've read that it's one of the least mod-friendly bike :D

Yes basically just want to change the color. Also want to know if there are parts that I can still change that can make the whole thing shed a few grams.. :D

Thanks!

You can but on any crank but the bolt systems on the bottom bracket must match. Ie square or splined. Yours looks like a square bottom bracket. If you get crank arms with square mounts they will fit. If you want a really high end crank you may need to get a slined bottom bracket with the same width axle. Hope that helps

overbyte

02-27-14 11:26 AM

The Jifo weighs only 19.7 lbs according to specs. That's lighter than a Brompton. Why would you want to shave a few grams off of that light weight? Also, the Jifo has a short crank arm 130mm. That's a rare size, only made for mini bikes, and it's already made of aluminum alloy, so you wouldn't gain anything in weight saving even if you found a different one.

I'd be more interested in upgrading the Jifo from a 1-speed to a multi-speed internally geared hub (IGH), but with a little searching online I can't find any 16" alloy rim with 36 spoke holes to build a wheel, which is what the IGHs require. The Jifo rear wheel has only 20 holes, so you couldn't just replace the existing hub and re-spoke the same wheel. The Jifo has a great folding scheme and it would be a wonderful little machine to rival the Brompton if it had an IGH with more than 6 speeds. But sadly, only a custom bike wheel shop would be able to build a rear wheel for it from scratch, if it's even possible, and it surely wouldn't be cheap. I don't know if it's even a good idea -- 36 holes around a 16" rim may weaken it too much. With a Sturmey-Archer 8-speed wide-range IGH (XRF8W) and the 25T cog it provides, you would get a range of 25 to 81 gear inches. With the older non-wide-range (XRF8) you'd get 25 to 77. Either of them would be great for hills and flatland.

By the way, the specs for Jifo say it has a 178 gear-inch drive train. That is nonsense. Jifo has a 39T crankwheel and 10T rear cog. Using Sheldon Brown's gear calculator, I compute that it has 62.7 gear inches, which is more reasonable. That's a good drive train for riding at moderate speeds on flat ground, lousy at hill climbing. Pedaling at 90 rpm, you can go 16.8 mph. At a leisurely 60 rpm cadence, you will go 11.2 mph. So the Jifo is a great little bike for that last segment of a commute on public transit in Flatlandia.

Now, why the heck doesn't Dahon build a Jifo with an IGH?

overbyte

02-27-14 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overbyte
(Post 16532248)

... I can't find any 16" alloy rim with 36 spoke holes to build a wheel, which is what the IGHs require.

Found one, a 16" alloy rim with 36H! It's at a site which supplies parts for electric bike building: http://www.bmsbattery.com/bike-parts...alloy-rim.html. Using this rim, a bike shop could build a wheel with an IGH, but the next obstacle is to determine whether the Jifo rear dropouts are wide enough apart to let an IGH fit in. The Shimano Nexus Inter-4 hub (4 speed) is 120mm wide. The Sturmey-Archer 8-speed is 130mm wide but comes with spacers for wider forks. So, if you can measure the distance between the inner surfaces of the rear forks where the existing hub fits in, you can take the next step. Also, an obstacle might be where the chain lines up with the rear cog. Measure the distance from the inner surface of the fork on the drive side (chain side) to the center of the cog.

smallwheeler

02-27-14 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overbyte
(Post 16532392)

Found one, a 16" alloy rim with 36H! It's at a site which supplies parts for electric bike building: http://www.bmsbattery.com/bike-parts...alloy-rim.html. Using this rim, a bike shop could build a wheel with an IGH, but the next obstacle is to determine whether the Jifo rear dropouts are wide enough apart to let an IGH fit in. The Shimano Nexus Inter-4 hub (4 speed) is 120mm wide. The Sturmey-Archer 8-speed is 130mm wide but comes with spacers for wider forks. So, if you can measure the distance between the inner surfaces of the rear forks where the existing hub fits in, you can take the next step. Also, an obstacle might be where the chain lines up with the rear cog. Measure the distance from the inner surface of the fork on the drive side (chain side) to the center of the cog.

hold your horses, poncho. you will not be changing out the hubs on a jifo.

if you are really smitten with the jifo design, you should check out the original, smartcog bipod mint.

this bike also has a shrimpy (80mm) rear hub, as is required by the folding design, but is otherwise designed with many standard parts so it can be upgraded. they also produce a 3 speed derailleur version (!) which seems very cool.

smallwheeler: I didn't realize the significance of the "OLD 76mm". What does "OLD" stand for?

So, I realized the hub would be small, but not that small.

I never heard of the Smartcog Mint. Very interesting. It even is smaller, with 14" wheels rather than 16" that the Jifo has. But even the 3-speed derailleur option still wouldn't make it a good climber for the likes of the hills of San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California; good for the hills of Manhattan, NY, though. (Wikipedia: "The highest natural point in the city is Todt Hill on Staten Island, which at 409.8 ft (124.9 m) above sea level is the highest hill on the Eastern Seaboard south of Maine.") Thanks for the links.

smallwheeler

02-27-14 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overbyte
(Post 16533257)

smallwheeler: I didn't realize the significance of the "OLD 76mm". What does "OLD" stand for?

So, I realized the hub would be small, but not that small.

I never heard of the Smartcog Mint. Very interesting. It even is smaller, with 14" wheels rather than 16" that the Jifo has. But even the 3-speed derailleur option still wouldn't make it a good climber for the likes of the hills of San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California; good for the hills of Manhattan, NY, though. (Wikipedia: "The highest natural point in the city is Todt Hill on Staten Island, which at 409.8 ft (124.9 m) above sea level is the highest hill on the Eastern Seaboard south of Maine.") Thanks for the links.

OLD = Over Locknut Dimension. this is the measurement to the outermost nut on the hub, and should be approximately the same measurement of your rear triangle or fork.

refer to the bible when in doubt. steel frames can be expanded or squeezed quite a bit to accommodate varying hub sizes. however, you cannot do this with an aluminum frame (as in the case of the jifo).

6 speed brompton with its 302% gear range would probably be optimal for your hilly conditions. or, keeping with the 16" wheel idea, a more fun and cheaper solution might be to find a used dahon presto-lite. usually they can be picked up for around 225-300. the best 16" wheel bike dahon ever made. very light with a long wheelbase.

smallwheeler: Thanks for the education about "OLD". I intuitively knew that was the dimension I had to measure but didn't know what it's called. Now I do. I'll investigate the Dahon Presto-Lite, but what I'm looking for is an even smaller bike than my 20" UCC Transformer 2.0, so I can easily pack it in a suitcase without much disassembly. I found this one. What do you think? https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=hZiQ1jPw4I0 .